෴Raz෴

෴෴෴෴෴෴

Disassemble

෴෴෴෴෴෴

Sitting and waiting for the next guards wasn't making his aching body feel any better. It was also turning out to be far too boring to maintain. Raz got up to work on his movements. He practiced his leaps across the room. After correcting minor flaws several times, Bee informed him that the neuromuscular chain was as good as it could get at the time.

The movement felt good. It almost seemed to be breaking away the stiff soreness and letting him heal, or at least feel better. Raz moved on to practicing footwork and dodging. Sooner than he’d expected, Bee informed him that without training from someone better, further practice was meaningless.

He plopped down on the bed and stared at the ceiling.

Ugh. So bored. I’ll only get one chance to escape. Can’t afford to blow it. I’m running out of time.

He got up and paced, trying to think of new ways to interact with the system.

Can you at least give me some hints about stuff to ask around?

[No. I am unable to do that.]

[In anticipation of your followup question, yes, I have tried.]

And there is nothing else I can do about this overprovisioning?

[Nothing more you could do here and now.]

Oh? Is that an indication that there are more ways to deal with it?

[No. Just what has been discussed. A reduction in stress, high quality food, good quality rest, and healthy physical activity are the only known methods that are ‘free’ ways to reduce the condition more quickly.]

Raz got back up and assumed a combat stance. He began drawing in energy from around him. The energy swirled inside and seemed to disperse into his body or at least vanish from his ability to sense it.

Several notifications popped up at the edge of his vision. He let them stay unread and simply focussed on his task.

Is this a procedural enough skill to make a combat reflex for it?

[Yes. You have asked this question before.]

[There is a procedural chain for this task already. It has now been updated.]

Put the energy ticker back up.

[Energy Full]

Raz started doing push ups, and activated the energy draw chain.

[Energy Full]

[Energy Full]

He rolled over and activated the chain he’d made to leap to his feet in a single motion.

Took me forever to learn to do a kick up the first time, and now I can do one at will. I’ll admit that's pretty cool.

Why did the energy stop?

[The chain was disrupted.]

Why?

[My current level does not allow me to activate multiple procedural chains simultaneously.]

[The kick up chain disrupted the energy draw chain.]

So how can I use it if I’m fighting?

[Currently, that chain will be dropped if you activate another procedural chain.]

[Further upgrades to Advanced Interface may unlock this ability.]

What are you, the salesman for more HUD upgrades? Getting something that might actually help me get out of here sounds better to me.

Raz swallowed his frustration and took the time to grab a shower and change into the fresh clothing. As an afterthought, he tucked the heavy combat gauntlets into his pants, lengthwise along his belt. He was uncomfortable with them in that position, but they felt steady and concealed there.

Let’s hope no one pats me down today. Still pretty sore.

He stretched out on the floor and relaxed to wait for dinner.

෴෴෴ ෴෴෴ ෴෴෴

The loud clang of the door startled Raz awake. Braithwaite stormed into the room followed by Rich. Rich was out of his arm cast and his furious expression made it clear that he was eager for an excuse to kill someone. Braithwaite had his typical creepy smile below angry dead eyes. Before Raz could even sit up, Braithwaite seized him by the throat and hauled him to his feet.

Braithwaite shook him. “I bet you thought you were pretty funny, hiding your pathetic ability and wasting my time. Now that I’ve realized that you’re nothing special, it’s your turn to move to the final phase of research.”

Rich pointed at Raz’s waistband. “Hey Fidel, aren’t those yours?”

Fidel appeared and grabbed the heavy combat gauntlets from his waistband. He pulled them on, looking Raz in the eye the whole time. “Do you still remember what I said to you when I brought you to this room?”

Raz tried to answer but couldn’t nod or even breathe. Braithwaite loosened his grip just enough to allow him to suck in a breath.

Fidel nodded, his expression wavering between angry and sad. “You have chosen poorly,” he nodded at Braithwaite. “Does it need hands?”

Raz looked over to Braithwaite in time to see his smile grow.

“Oh no, it won’t be needing anything like that. I’ll be removing all these pesky extremities shortly,” Braithwaite smiled widely at Raz as he said it.

Fidel grabbed Raz by both wrists. Raz tried to yank his hands back out of the grip but Fidel’s fingers were like immovable iron bands.

Fidel looked at Raz and shook his head. “I warn you about this. You take my gloves. You give me problem. Now I must give you problem.”

His grip tightened. Slowly, deliberately the hands around Raz’s wrists clenched down. When the bones ground against each other Raz panted, groaning in pain. The inexorable force increased.

Just before Raz screamed in pain Fidel relaxed his grasp. Raz breathed a sigh of relief. He looked from Braithwaite to Fidel. Fidel returned his gaze coldly, then smiled and squeezed hard. Flesh and bone gave way instantly. Raz felt his flesh torn away from his arms before the bones themselves were crushed into a gritty powder. He heard the wet slapping sound of things hitting the floor.

His eyes rolled back and his body went limp as he lost consciousness.

Braithwaite shook him again and then looked at Fidel. “You could have waited until the lab. Make sure you bring those hands with us. They’ll just stink up the place and attract bugs if you leave them laying around. Besides, it would be such a waste.”

෴෴෴ ෴෴෴ ෴෴෴

Raz opened his eyes and then shut them again instantly. Harsh bright lights beamed down at him. He couldn’t move. His body felt cold and numb. Craning his neck, he could look at his naked torso in a pool of illumination. It looked like he was strapped to some kind of table that supported his arms and legs separately from his body and head. There were several shiny metal trays with surgical implements and bowls at the edge of the area he could see. He tried to see past the brightly lit torso to his legs. It was too dark to see them. He could just about make out his arms at the edge of the lit area, but something there looked wrong. He looked back at the trays full of implements and realized he was strapped to an operating table.

The sound of loud gnawing and crunching sounds filled the room. Raz looked to the source of the sound and saw a shadow moving at the periphery of the room. He turned to look at it as it seemed to detach from the darkness around the brightly lit area and came closer. Braithwaite stepped into the light and leaned in close with a smile. “Oh good, you’re back. I was worried,” his brow furrowed, and his mouth tightened, he appeared genuinely concerned. His mouth was surrounded by a red smear. He popped something white and red in his mouth and started to chew. The crunching and breaking sounds were much louder up close.

Raz tried to speak and realized he could only grunt and moan.

Braithwaite nodded with an almost sympathetic expression. “Yeah, I’m sorry to say I had to paralyze your vocal cords. You were just making too much noise.” He glanced at something off in the shadows and then back to Raz. “Like I was saying, I was worried. I didn’t want you to miss any of this experience,” his wide smile returned. Braithwaite moved away from the pool of bright light, softly humming to himself as he worked.

Raz kept trying to move. His limbs felt too heavy to lift. He noticed a growing discomfort in his forearms and calves. The pain slowly increased from an ache to a hot pulsing agony. He tried to tell Braithwaite something was wrong. He tried to shout. He couldn't make a sound louder than a soft grunt.

Braithwaite returned with a cylindrical handheld device connected to a pressure hose. “Oh yes, it looks like you’re hurting. I’ll take care of that for you. There isn’t any need for more pain at this point.” He set the equipment down on a tray next to Raz.

Raz looked at the device and recognized it as a captive bolt gun, a device used in slaughterhouses to destroy the brain of animals before slaughter. He looked from it to Braithwaite and back again. He shook his head desperately at the man, trying to somehow communicate with him.

Braithwaite picked the captive bolt gun back up and stepped behind Raz. Raz felt something cold touch his lower back along the spine.

“Don’t worry, this is almost painless. You’ll hardly feel a thing before it destroys the nerves.” Braithwaite whispered in his ear in a breathy, intimate tone.

Raz shook his head frantically, trying desperately to speak. Breathy grunting noises were all that came out.

Another shadow appeared in front of Raz. Fidel stalked into the light. Dressed in bright yellow rain gear and a plastic apron. He had a large meat cleaver in his hand. It looked to be at least a foot long. “I am here. I help with disassembly.” His face looked wrong. His mouth, it was too big and filled with sharp teeth.

Raz took in Fidel’s gruesome grin and then Braithwaite, drooling a thick red drool.

Braithwaite chuckled. “The word is vivisection, but that’s perfect. You can lend me a hand, getting those feet off,” he then laughed maniacally as though he’d said something supremely funny. He finally brought the laughter under control. “Go ahead and get those feet off. I tied off his legs already so you might as well.” Braithwaite tightened the strap around Raz’s head, immobilizing his head. He put the captive bolt gun to Raz’s forehead and held it there, looking at Fidel with a grin. “Are you ready to eat?”

Raz tried to shake his head, to make a sound. Anything to deny what was happening.

Fidel grinned, revealing long sharp teeth. “Hey, lets go!” he said in agreement.

His red eyes seemed to glow in the brightly lit area. He mumbled something in Russian and then took a position in the shadows by Raz’s feet. The lights came on in the room just as Fidel lifted the giant cleaver. The blade stretched out nearly three feet long, brushing the ceiling as he glanced over at Braithwaite. “Hey, do you want to eat?” he said.

Braithwaite chuckled again. “I definitely do!”

Fidel smiled, revealing the shark teeth again. “It's time for dinner!”

He brought down the sword and cut off both of Raz’s legs. The cleaver sheared through both legs as though they weren’t even there. A pair of bright red spray patterns appeared across Fidel's yellow raincoat.

Raz barely felt a bump as his feet were hacked off. It hurt a lot less than he expected. Just a little tap beyond the intense cramping ache. Fidel picked up both of the feet and held them up for Raz to see.

Raz didn’t want to see the bloody dripping severed flesh and bone that used to be his feet. He tried to look away but couldn’t. Fidel turned them around as though modeling them, making sure Raz got a good look at the stumps where two white bones were visible amid the bright red flesh and blood.

Fidel smiled again, and then shrugged, almost apologetically. He dropped the feet onto a stainless steel tray “Hey man, it’s time for dinner!” his snaggle-toothed jaw shouted.

“Good idea,” Braithwaite giggled. “I’ll take the left one. I’m still hungry. There was hardly any meat on those hands. Nice and crunchy though.”

Upon realizing what he’d seen and heard Braithwaite eating, Raz felt himself retch but couldn't seem to vomit. Raz swore he could still feel something bumping against his missing feet. He watched Braithwaite and Fidel with wide eyes, still trying to somehow say something, to do anything to stop what was happening.

Braithwaite got his attention by pressing a little harder with the captive bolt gun against his forehead. “I heard you were planning to escape. You were warned after the first time. You should know I don’t like that idea. You should have known better. Understand that you'll be just as good a test subject without feet or hands.”

At the mention of hands Raz looked over at his right hand to see it was just a stump covered in some kind of flowing ooze that almost looked alive. Desperately he looked to the other hand. It was the same. The gelatinous ooze around the stump stained a bit more red.

“You’re going to miss your chance for dinner!” Braithwaite shouted as he activated the captive bolt gun and fired the three-inch rod of stainless steel into Raz’s forehead with a loud clang. The world fell away as the steel bolt pierced his brain.